CNS, a digital trade solution company under DP World, has introduced a new Customs Declaration Service (CDS) designed to help exporters prepare for the UK government’s customs declaration transition.
In October 2022, significant issues arose following the UK government’s deadline for merchants to transition from the outdated CHIEF system to the new one for filing import declarations, as highlighted by the DP World-owned company.
Amid these difficulties, many merchants are now wary of the new system, which needs more data fields to complete an export statement.
CNS has therefore advised traders to prepare ahead of time by testing the criteria on its specifically constructed CDS-compatible system.
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Matthew Bradley, Managing Director at CNS, emphasised the importance of adequate preparation.
He stated: “There are some issues like outages on the system that are impossible to prepare for, but there are a lot of issues traders are now aware of and various learnings from last year, which mean there are known steps that can and should be taken.
“Last year showed us that organisations that trained their staff and prepared through test environments before the deadline were far less impacted by the change in system. The broader industry should learn from this and start testing and preparing now.
“However, affordable and user-friendly tools and solutions are readily available to help mitigate disruption. We would urge any traders dealing with export declarations to do their homework and be as prepared as they possibly can be.”
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CNS created its Customs Declarations Management System (CDMS) cloud-based solution to help traders managing the transition and ongoing declaration submissions on the government’s CDS system.
The solution aims to simplify the process of filing CDS-compliant export declarations by offering a secure interface to users.
The system is designed specifically for CDS and includes features that accelerate data entry, increase compliance, and bring users straight to the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) website to establish what data is required.
CDMS is meant to only need the information required for a single declaration type and contains market-leading capabilities for explaining error codes in natural language, according to the company.
CNS reportedly offers an instant update facility to validate commodity codes, ensuring accurate tax and duty rates, along with error diagnosis and other features.
Bradley added: “The feedback from customers is that our CDMS solution made their life a lot easier last October and they believe that we ultimately saved them time and money.
“The reassurance of knowing you are as prepared as you can be, may put end customers at ease and may even help you sleep better at night – which is something we think is pretty important in our extremely stressful industry.”
The switch for export declarations is due to occur on 30 November 2023.
In October 2022, trade from the EU to the UK fell by a staggering 20 per cent.
